|
|
|
Project: Linux  Opinions
A diary of a Linux bumpkin
By Henry Kingman <feedback@freeos.com>
Posted: ( 2001-07-16 07:56:45 EST by gatha )
In this article the author talks about how Linux became an `Overnight Sensation'.
 There's a country song that describes the Linux phenomenon perfectly. It's called "Overnight Sensation," and it just so happens that my old girlfriend, Joni Mehler, wrote it. Everyone should have at least one ex-girlfriend who writes country songs, don't you think? Anyway, maybe you've heard this song. It goes…
"It took 20 long years to be an overnight sensation,
How could overnight take so many years?
It took many long years of hard work and inspiration,
To be an over-night sensa-a-tion!"
Development of code that today comprises Linux stretches far, far back to the roots of the self-recursively named GNU's Not Unix (GNU) Project founded by Richard M. Stallman in 1984. The GNU Project (pronounce the G) was dedicated to producing a free version of Unix because of Stallman' idea that free access to software source is a moral imperative. As the GNU Web page puts it, "'Free software' is a matter of liberty, not price. To understand the concept, you should think of 'free speech,' not 'free beer.'"
By way of bringing his dream to life Stallman built massive amounts of code over the course of years. A prodigiously capable solitary programmer, Stallman had previously written such seminal works as Emacs, and he subsequently went on to produce the GNU C Compiler (GCC), GNU symbolic debugger (GDB) and GNU Emacs, all of which he offered up for public use according to the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL), which he also wrote.
Indeed, the GPL may be remembered as Stallman's biggest contribution of all.
Linus Torvalds, meanwhile, began to develop a Unix-like kernel while attending the University of Helsinki in the late 80s and early 1990s. He was inspired by a computer science professor who had long been working on a Unix-like kernel of his own, as well as by his frustrations with Minix, a Unix-like OS written for the educational community. Working closely with this professor, Torvalds was able to create a working kernel, which he initially turned loose upon the world under a fairly restrictive license. Within six months, though, he recognized his error and adopted the GPL, a move he later said this about: "Making Linux GPL'd was definitely the best thing I ever did."
Having a GPL'd kernel that the GCC and other GNU programs could run on brought the GNU Project to a different level. Now, people could actually write, compile and run programs on a free Unix-like platform, opening the door for myriad developers to take up keyboards and apply their skills where most appropriate. Stallman asked Linus for permission to distribute a working version of the GNU operating system under the name 'Linux,' and perhaps not realizing the far-reaching fame (if not fortune) that decision would bring, Linus consented.
It should be noted that although the free Unix-like operating system we use today is called Linux (a polymorph of Unix and Linus), the single greatest contributor of code is none other than Stallman, whose Free Software Foundation contributes about 28 percent of the code in a basic Linux installation, according to Stallman' estimates. Torvald's decision to GPL the Linux kernel was in part a gesture of respect for the GNU C Compiler, without which Linus properly recognized there could never be a free Unix-like OS. In addition to the GCC, however, Stallman and the Free Software Foundation also contributed hundreds and hundreds of less glamorous programs including the foundational C libraries.
Thus the long-suffering idealist, Stallman, renowned for well-reasoned treatises against the ethics of commercial software, and the likeable, unassuming Torvalds, who for years was rarely photographed without an up-tilted celebratory ale, really ought to be acknowledged as co-contributors to the free Unix-like OS that today we know as Linux.
Unlike the more idealistic Stallman, Torvalds believes that proprietary software also plays a role in furthering software. He points out that it was not until commercial vendors such as Red Hat got involved with Linux that it became installable by mere mortals. A thoroughly practical soul, Linus seems to have provided just the right reality factor to morph GNU from idealistic dream to what it is today, the fastest growing operating system in the known universe.
I got my first Linux box running back in February of 1998, which practically makes me an old-timer by user standards. Back then there were only 3.5 million Linux users, compared to the 7 million users now (these figures are from what is supposed to be the second in a series of leaked Microsoft documents). Back then, there wasn't too much speculation of Linux making any kind of significant dent in the desktop market.
I can't really claim that I saw the Linux boom coming. The truth is that I had wanted to learn Unix for a long time, mostly to impress an ex-girlfriend, the same one who wrote those country songs. After she gave up her music career, Joni became a support engineer at Silicon Graphics. I wanted to show her that I, too, could master the command line. Thus, when a friend who happens to work at Sun Microsystems dropped by my office, spotted an orphaned 486 box in the corner and offered to install Linux on the spot, I jumped at the opportunity.
We dusted off the beast, took inventory of its innards and plugged it into the corporate LAN. Then, in an act that seemed to me only slightly less miraculous than spontaneous animation, my friend conjured up a working Linux box from just a few half-remembered URLs, 7 blank floppies and a hundred megs of ftp downloading. It took about three hours.
Attempts to configure X Windows were stymied by a proprietary, unsupported Compaq Video chipset, but I was happy enough to flog my brain in console mode for a while anyway. Apache and SAMBA, at least, were a snap to configure, and that was really exciting, especially after I discovered the open port in the company firewall. But that's another story!
The next chapter of my Linux education happened around May 1998, when I discovered the CoffeeNet cafe here in San Francisco. There, I found a bunch of older Pentiums with 17-inch monitors all running a custom fvwm2/TkGoodStuff desktop. For the price of $5 worth of muffins and coffee you could get a user account, install with a single click some local preference files for any hip Linux program you cared to use--Netscape, GIMP, Xasteroids or whatever--and geek out till the caffeine wore off. You even got a public_html folder with room for 20MB of files published on the World Wide Web! How cool is that?
After just a few interactions with KDE at CoffeeNet, I knew Linux was going to meet the desktop in a big way. Here was a Linux network of superannuated old Pentiums being used successfully by members of the general public representing all skill levels. I made a half-dozen visits to the place, and never saw any maintenance being done, any of the machines having downtime, or any of the users asking the counter help for anything other than another cup of coffee or perhaps Sicilia Panini.
Still, for a while, my interest in Linux languished. Unix, it turned out-at least the old-school console Unix I craved competence with-was hard. It reminded me of my first experiences mountain biking. I really, really liked the idea, but in practice it was a world of pain. Everything was unfamiliar and awkward. I'd concentrate so hard sometimes my hair would bleed! To no avail.
Rarely, in my early days of Linux interaction, could I ever get anything to work. It could be argued that the same holds true today. Yet, every 'no' gets me that much closer to a 'yes,' I hear myself saying, and so the struggles continue. Actually, I'm being a little melodramatic here. Maybe I just want you to think Linux is hard, to make my (very rudimentary) accomplishments seem the more impressive.
A crash course from Muster Learning Architects and diligent practice with John Muster's seminal Unix tutorial "Unix Made Easy" eased my plight somewhat. I subscribed to lots of Linux user newsgroups and make frequent references to the Linux Documentation Project.
Of all the Linux reference materials I found, perhaps the most helpful of all were the ones that came with my system. There they were, all along, the HOWTOs in the /usr/doc/ directory. What a shame it took me four months to discover them! And then another couple of days to learn how to read them without unstuffing them every time first! (zcat [file] | less).
As my Linux education progresses, I'm feeling less and less like I imagine my Mom felt trying to learn Windows 95. The first step for her was unlearning the typewriter. I had it slightly worse as I had to also unlearn Macintosh, Win 3.1 and Windows 95. That, plus I'm not as smart as she.
Luckily, I'm beginning to realize that Linux isn't really difficult; it's just a lot. It isn't easy, but it is really, really simple. I expect that once you know it, anything else would seem confusing and needlessly complex. Not to mention unstable.
It will be interesting to watch what happens in Linux land over the next ten years. Windows is certainly not going away any time soon. Perhaps the Mac, too, can survive. After all, newer technologies rarely replace older ones, unless like the 8-track tape they are fundamentally flawed in some huge way.
At least one Linux heavyweight includes a line at the bottom of their Web page that says, "This Web page was created using WordPad on Windows 95." It is a reminder to some overly zealous Linux bigots that Linux is not about replacing Windows, which is just fine for many uses, clearly. Blame the bi-cameral human brain for imposing such false oppositions.
Instead, Linux is a bright new concept in freedom of information, equal access for all, and international cooperation. Also, a stable rock-like platform on which you can build whatever you have the creativity, artfulness, diplomacy, interest and perseverance to build. Comparison with the Internet as a promising New Thing may not be overly exaggerated.
It looks like the first round of Linux innovations could be the car audio jukebox that can play hundreds and hundreds of mpeg'ed CDs from a single hard drive. As near as I can tell, you'll be hearing these soon, if you haven't already. On the other hand, the arts and entertainment industry has proven itself pretty good at delaying technology (referring to the DVD here).
But if it does happen, and you end up getting yourself one of them there new-fangled Linux jukebox players, just be sure it has a few good ol' country tunes on it. Like this one song I know, for instance... perhaps you've heard it? It's called Overnight Sensation...
Other articles by Henry Kingman
Current Rating: [ 8.63 / 10 ]
Number of Times Rated: [ 16 ]
|
|
|
